It's Thursday! "Ask Debbie" post!

Be sure to click on the "Ask Debbie" tab to view this past weeks questions

And have a great Thursday!

Going to be testing a new Air Dry Paint set!

I have been asked by Special Care Nursery in the UK to test a new 

Air Dry paint system.

These paints are initially set up for the beginning reborner in mind with a full line of completely pre-blended paints.  

Take a look!

 The larger bottles are washes and mottling blushes while the smaller bottles are your detail paints.

The paints are completely ready for use, straight from the bottle; nothing to add, and as you see, need to only be stirred before use.

The paints are all at their testers now, with the general consensus that they are wonderful, but a bit too thick.  This will be corrected before the launch.

The launch is due to happen by Christmas when you'll be able to pre-order your paints.

  The Special Care Nursery website is down right now for maintenance but you can find them on

~FACEBOOK~

I will be painting a super-soft vinyl "Joshua" kit from Doll Dreams with my Special Care paints.

And, I'll be doing a tutorial for the beginning artist.

I absolutely intend to order the rest of the line, the pure colors and thinners, to blend my own for use on a Master Artist Series doll in the future.  The pure colors won't be available until after the new year.  Only the basic pre-blended set will be available during the launch.  

Stay tuned for future updates  :)

Guess where I am going tomorrow???

To the angora goat farm!

Yes, it's that time of year again and I can't be happier!  

In the meantime (today), I have packaged up the last of the mohair orders (for the moment) and am ready to take them to the post office.  There are too many for our post lady to pick up.  She's an amazing post lady and very capable of her work, but there are just too many! 

I believe I have sent out 35 mohair orders  :)

I took time to clean up the nursery yesterday...it was a DISASTER!

Supplies had been coming in that had not gotten put away and the work table was cluttered with new items and things I had to do.  I have a fresh start now  :)

I am devoting today to re-doing an auction for Prototype Annalisa by Dianna Effner.

She is such a sweet baby that did not find a home during her first time on eBay.

Her pictures were kindof dark.  She's hard to photograph because she does have a rich tone, but I'm going to try again.  

I guess I just feel like I need to attend to some undone things before I begin the next prototype baby.

Have a happy Tuesday!

LyLy Rose prototype #1 is on eBay :)

It is with great pleasure that I announce that LyLy Rose is on eBay!

~VIEW LYLY'S AUCTION HERE~

Being around several newborns this year, it is apparent to me that in real life, they don't require a lot of fancy outfits so I created LyLy's layette and auction with a Bare Necessities theme.  

Take a peek at her video...you will recognize the instrumental in it  :)

Oh I just have TOO much fun!

Happy Monday!!!

Is it the end of the weekend already?!?!?!

Heavens, I believe I need a FULL WEEK of my hubby being gone so that I can continue to work late into the nights without feeling guilty of neglect!

I intended to share so much with you yesterday and today but all I have is news, really.

I will be trying some new air dry paints.  I wanted to take a picture of the paint set that arrived and show it to you but, I just didn't get it done.  I will, just not this weekend.

A box containing 4 silicone kits came in the mail.  I wanted to take a picture of ALL of the silicone kits together that I have to do, but I didn't get that done.  Oh well, I'm waiting for one more anyway  :)

I DID get the mohair processed and listed!

And before I could barely get started on printing labels for orders that came in, my printer ran out of ink.  Never seems to fail!  LOL

~MOHAIR ON ARTFIRE~

I DID get the LyLy Rose Prototype finished, video'd and photographed!  

I'll share one picture of her and share her auction and video information once I have her live on eBay.

I wanted to play with my personal dolls but that certainly did not happen!

And my brain has stopped.   I am sure there is more to tell you but It's not coming to mind at the moment!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Sharing my collection Friday~I WON a SILICONE toddler!!!!

One of the dear Doll Fan ladies needed to make room in her nursery so she did a drawing to give away a Melissa McCrory silicone toddler.

I was not the initial winner and Noni May went forward to her new home.

Her new mommy had an unfortunate shoulder injury and Noni May, being a solid silicone toddler, weighing in at 11 pounds was more than she was able to pick up.

Now, this new mommy could have sold Noni May and made a profit but instead, she contacted the wonderful lady who gave her away in the first place and asked her to do another drawing for Noni May and I WON!  

Noni May arrived yesterday and I am so DELIGHTED with her!!  

She is Melissa's very first silicone toddler which makes her even more special to me.

Please enjoy her box opening, assisted by my darling kitty, Yuumei.

 Ooohhhhh!  She came with lots of things!

Here she is!  My red headed pumpkin happy to be out of that box!

With all of her precious outfits...even a Christmas dress!

"Mamma, may I meet my siblings now?"

(somehow she just knew there were two other Melissa McCrory silicone dolls here)

"Of course you can sweetheart!"

 Noni is holding Melissa's "Sugar" full bodied silicone that I call "Poppy" and Tommy, a hollow cast silicone of Melissa's is cuddling in tight, holding Poppy's hand.

 They are just SO sweet together!

 Precious sibling love  :)

In the meantime, Yuumei is keeping that big box under control...

I decided to dress Noni up for Halloween.

 "Mama, do I hafta be a lamb?!?!?!"

 "Honey, you make a precious lamb and I have candy!"

Suddenly, she is okay with being a lamb~LOL

 I eventually had to take the candy off of the high chair tray as our black lab dog, Deuce, kept taking it from Noni and making her cry.  

I gave her a toy to play with and that made her happy enough. 

I guess you could call that sibling rivalry!  LOL

Going to be boring

At least for the next couple of days, I'm going to be quite boring!

I've not had time to "engage" with the doll world and I really have nothing exciting to share...yet.

Stay tuned Friday, Saturday, Sunday and through the beginning of next week.  I have the weekend to myself and several things will be coming to completion, and, there just might be a new baby arriving home to me on Thursday  :)  

Enjoy the next couple of days!

XXOO

Silicone cuteness! Warning! Naked dolls

I had a moment over the weekend to snap pictures of the three 

full bodied silicones that I purchased from Melissa McCrory.

I don't believe they have sculpt names but I'll name then after I complete the artwork on them.

For your enjoyment, blank silicone babies.

Happy Monday!

Back to winter hours

On Thursday, my husband got the notice that he was permitted to go back to work following the Government Shutdown.

Thursday marked the first of his last three day weekends for the summer, so he did not go back until today.

Today we start back with 5 eight hour days a week instead of 4 ten hour days.  

I will miss the long days and the three days off, but it does allow me to do a little bit more in the evenings when we are not doing anything else.  

The winter months are good for rooting after dinner, so I do squeeze in a little extra baby making time  :)

So what's on the agenda?  

Dyeing mohair and rooting LyLy Rose.  

Have a great Sunday!

Sharing my Collection Friday~Mini OOAKs and new treasures

When a girl only has a few moments to play, mini OOAKs are a good choice to play with!

I can quickly select outfits, change them and pose them.

They were especially a good choice right now since I had not had time to really share the two new additions to the nursery.

Chance, a mini clay OOAK created by Sharon Ullrich, has been with me for several years.  

I had the bumble bee outfit custom made for him the same year I adopted him and while at the Portland show in August, I found this darling artist bear for him!

The bear was being sold from another collector's personal collection.

 

I think that Chance is delighted with his new friend  :)

Audra also got a new friend from that same show.

Again, she was being sold from a private collection, not from the artist.

 The tag on this fancy girl is "We're Bears" and the artist name is Pauline...and I can't make out the last name.  It could be Weir or Dir.  Google is not telling me much either.

She is SUPER heavy, entirely filled with steel shot.  I love that about her.

 I'm not sure that Audra wants to share her bed with the new bear.

 And she definitely does not want to share her bottle!

My friend Sally, of Sally's Monkey Business made this little panda hat for me.

OH dear....I cannot remember what my granddaughter named this little clay OOAK, but she likes the hat and it fits her just fine.

And since it's October and the frost is on the pumpkin, I thought these two should dress for the season:

I'm glad that they like their veggies!

Have a great weekend everyone!

XXOO

The tested glue did not pass the test!

Yesterday, I posted about some new products I was trying.

One of them was this glue:

The glue did dry and it appeared that it was holding the glass eyes in place, but as I began rooting the doll head, the eyes eventually came loose.

Was it from the hot wheat sock in the head?  

I do not know but for me, I cannot use this glue for eyes.  I cannot take a chance of eyes coming loose in a doll that I make.  

The magnet has not come loose...yet.  I'll keep close watch on it.

~sigh~

Trying out some new products~The glue did NOT pass the test after all

I love innovation and change in the reborn/doll industry!

I've received several new products that I am getting a chance to try.

One is a rooting "pillow" that is making my work so much nicer!

I'll have to get more information on this product to see if it is available in the US as she is an artist in Germany.  My items came direct from her in Germany.

For the links below, I have asked Google to translate the pages for us.

This handy pillow is filled with the styrofoam pellets that you would find in a bean bag~very light weight and do not generate heat in your lap.  My pillow has a lovely white, satin ribbon  :)

~SEE THE INFORMATION ON THE ROOTING PILLOW HERE~

There is less pressure on the dolls paint finish using this pillow. So far, I have not covered/protected the face of the doll head I am working on, which makes things less cumbersome to me.

I can also lay the head for the correct angle of the head to the needle and the pillow holds it securely in place.

The next item I am trying is from the same seller.  

It is a rooting needle with a cover over the stem creating comfort for my fingers and thumb!

Even though the information states that this needle is very strong (at least that is what I gain from the translation) I have so far bent and broke 5 of these while rooting my LyLy Rose head!

Heating the head is a must with this needle but I do like how it roots.  

I am using a thicker kid hair.

There are other colors and sizes available.

~ROOTING NEEDLE IN PINK~

I give both of those products from Heavenly Illusions an A+!

I had heard about a glue that works as well as E6000 and does not smell so I gave it a try.

I purchased this glue from Nonie's Angels Nursery here in the US.

~SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE GLUE ON THIS PAGE~

UPDATE ON THE TESTED GLUE!
The glue did dry and was not sticky or tacky but, as I began rooting the head, the glass eyes came loose.  :(  
Was it from the hot wheat filled sock that I tucked inside the head?  I don't know but E6000 is never affected by this so I am going to have to stick with the E600 glue for eyes.
So far, the magnet and felt have not come loose.  

Original post:

I do love that the glue does not smell!  

It is thinner than the E6000 glue (it has the texture of Elmer's Glue)  and seems to dry a bit slower (meaning that the E6000 begins to set up within a few moments so that you can finalize, for example, the setting of eyes) so I don't think I'll try it with eyes that are hard to set/don't fit in the sockets well, but for everyday use, yes, it's got my vote!

It adheres to just about anything so there is no need to worry about gluing your magnets or eyes or felts etc.  And it does not smell!  Glorious!

LOOK at this innovative pacifier also from Nonie's Angels Nursery!!

The magnet is hidden inside the pacifier!

No more cutting nipples off and going through the agony of getting a magnet set just right.

I have played around with these some but have not used one on a doll just yet but I don't anticipate any problems.  The magnets are even included with each pacifier.

~SCROLL DOWN AND SEE THE FULL LINE HERE~

While you are there, check out her other small pacifiers~they are great too!  I have purchased those in the past.

I'll be receiving some new air dry paints soon.  

I have no complaints about what I use now (LDC and Art and Magic Waterborne),

I've just been asked to give these new ones a try.

I will do a photo tutorial of them like I did with the other two paints.  It has been asked of me to provide a tutorial for the beginner painter as this is what these paints are geared to.

All in a days work...and play! 

Anxious for silicones!

I received three new full bodied silicone dolls from Melissa McCrory that I can't wait to start working on!

I have not measured them yet but they are approximately 10-12 inches each.  

Also waiting for me is "Precious" by Lilianne Breedveld who I think is going to be a DREAM to work on.

Four silicones will be arriving from Rachelle Farrell anytime soon....one of those is a prototype of her Preston.

Prototype silicone Rio is due to arrive any time soon as well.

And, just so she doesn't think I forgot, I have a little Michelle Fagan silicone to re-do for a dear friend.  

And a Romie Strydom silicone head to re-root for another dear friend. 

I also have a nice big silicone baby that I will reborn for me...someday!

So, just one more vinyl prototype to root and one more to fully reborn then I can open up the nursery to silicone work again!

Happy Monday!

 

Birthday gift!

What a busy weekend...a BIRTHDAY weekend!

Yes, Thursday was my birthday...I get to be 49!  

I have a "theme" song this next year by Point of Grace:

I am looking forward to my last year in the 40's.

Now, about that gift.

My dear husband gave me a beautiful certificate from a local photographer for a 

3 hour session with her!

This session will be catered to what I want to learn.

And what I most desire to learn is how to photograph our wiggling, live babies in my photo studio, which will include how to set my SLR camera and how to adjust the lighting.

I do okay with my dolls but I'll gather some tips on that as well to improve in that department.

I am SUPER excited for this education!

And that's all I really have to share for today.  

I've not had much time with my personal dolls and haven't taken any pictures of the three I changed for Halloween and I've not done any work since Wednesday, so this is all I have to share.

Have a good Sunday!

Paint complete on LyLy Rose :)

I really enjoyed painting this little one!

Her vinyl was very nice to work with and she came together rather quickly.

Her hair is in the dye pot on the stove as I type.  Sure can't wait to start rooting her!

I've got two other colors in the dye pots as well and just two more clippings of kid hair to band up.

I was able to get EIGHT ounces of kid hair banded last night.  THAT is progress!

Kid hair takes the longest to band since it's so fine but this box was mostly "new" with just a little hair taken out of it the last time that I processed so that makes grabbing the locks a little quicker, plus I stayed up late.  This is not conducive to my morning walks as I tend to then need to sleep past the time I should be out walking.  

This too shall all pass...as soon as I get the mohair done!  :)

Eye Duct Tutorial from Brooke Nicole

WOW!

Brooke Nicole offers an Eye Duct Tutorial and I bought it last week.

It is TERRIFIC!

~Get your tutorial here~

It is surely affordable too.  

Mine ended up landing in my "spam" folder so if you order it, be sure to check there for yours.

Painting is going well on LyLy.  I just didn't have time for progress pictures yesterday.  

The way things are going, I might finish her paint today!  

Hugs for the day

XXOO

Newborn LyLy is coming along! Take a peek!

Newborns can be difficult for me but this one is turning out SO sweet!

It could be that I have had time to look over our real newborn who happens to have thin lips like 

LyLy Rose.

What do you think?

Take a look at the clay sculpt on the Truborn website:

~SEE THE OOAK HERE~

By the clay sculpt, I was worried about making her features soft but this kit turned out really nice.

Betty Morel's sculpting is awesome and this baby has nice details.

I think this one is a winner!

Prototype LyLy Rose begins...

Today I will begin to paint LyLy Rose by Betty Morel.

She is a sweet little newborn and I'm excited to see how she will turn out!

I love her newborn look and chunky legs!

I have already coated her with Genesis Satin varnish and created texture on her brows, nail beds and her mouth/lips.  

I have purchased her layette and have a plan for her skin tone and hair color and style.

Ready, set, GO!